Nearly 20 applications for top job at GL Tech

TYNGSBORO -- Greater Lowell Technical High School has received 19 applications for the top job at the school. At least three of the candidates are local, The Sun has learned.

Victor Olson, who chairs the selection committee for the superintendent search, said as of the 3 p.m. Thursday deadline for the posting, the school received 19 applications.

Not all candidates meet all the requirements for the position, Olson guessed.

"I would suspect just knowing from the last time (the committee hired a superintendent three years ago), probably about half tend not to have all the requirements," said Olson.

Superintendent-Director Mary Jo Santoro, who faced months of strained relations with the School Committee, told the committee in February she was not interested in seeking a contract extension. Her contract expires June 30. Santoro has worked at the school since 1978.

Shawsheen Technical High School Technical Director David Norkiewicz told The Sun he was very interested in applying for the position.

Norkiewicz was a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning instructor at Greater Lowell before taking a job teaching HVAC at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica, where he has been for 15 years.

He ran for a seat on the Greater School Committee in 2009 and lost to Paul Morin.

Paul Schlictman, district coordinator for research, testing and assessment for the Lowell Public Schools, also applied for the job, The Sun has learned.

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Schlictman taught at Madison Park Vocational Technical High School in Boston for three years and spent four years on the Minutemen Regional Vocational Technical School Committee in Lexington.

Director of Technical Studies at Greater Lowell John Sheehan is the other local candidate, The Sun has learned.

Sheehan has worked at the school since 1985.

The job was advertised at a salary range of $130,000 to $150,000.

The candidates' applications will be available Friday for the committee to review.

The School Committee will meet April 10 in executive session to discuss the candidates.

Olson said the committee will eliminate applicants that do not meet the requirements. The committee may decide to create a short list of semi-finalists if there is a larger pool of applicants they want to interview or they could decide next week to narrow down the applicants to finalists.

Whomever is hired must have a vocational-technical superintendent-director license or be eligible to apply for that licensure, which requires at least three years of experience in a technical school.

Other qualifications include: a master's degree in education or administration, minimum of 10 years in vocational education teaching and administration and experience with Massachusetts School Building Authority projects, preferred not required.

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